A/N: So what'd you think of the surprise deaths and the whole half a century thing? Please don't kill me for killing off ½ or your entire OTP. (v.v ) BUT I PROMISE, no more deaths c: Well, they will all die eventually, but no surprise ones for sure. It's not like I'm just gonna randomly kill off Gregor as well. Psh, that'd be mean of me. Blech, I blab too much. Enjoy and review ~ And please, put away those pitchforks. I'd rather die quickly than a slow pitchforky death by pissed off fans… And yes, I'd probably pitchfork someone if they killed my OTP so I'm a bit of a hypocrite here cx Okay, now I swear that I'm done.
"What do you mean she disappeared!?" Robin yelled out between sobs. "She's Tiki, the princess of the Divine Dragon tribe! How can she just disappear?" At this point, Robin was trying desperately not to break anything.
"Just what I mean Robin. On the fifth anniversary of The Day of Light, she just disappeared. Everyone that was able to looked for her. We tried Regna Ferox, Valm, and even Plegia to search for both of you. Robin, we can't find her anywhere. It's possible that she may have died or gone back to sleep." Chrom just watched as Robin sat on the floor, crying. Seeing his tactician so sad and heartbroken reminded him of when he lost Sumia. "Robin, stay here for a week. Everyone has missed you dearly these past 50 years, and I'm not letting you go try and find Tiki without hearing from your friends and what they've learned."
Robin said nothing and just nodded. Chrom motioned for one of his guards to escort Robin to his old room. Almost lifelessly, Robin followed the guard to his room, even though he clearly remembered the way there and the joyous times he spent in there with his comrades. The first thing he noticed when he entered was that his room was completely untouched. Not a single book was misplaced and his bed looked as neat as he had left it. Of course, there was dust and decay after so many years of not being lived in.
I guess I've got something to do while I wait for everyone…
"Robin!" He turned around to see Lissa walking towards him. She didn't look as old as Chrom did, but she was getting there. Her previously blond hair was already white, but she still looked young for a 70-ish lady.
"Lissa! It's been so long!" Robin walked towards her and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry to hear about Frederick."
She just smiled and replied, "Don't be. He told me that he lived a wonderful life and that he had no regrets."
Suddenly, Robin felt something lumpy crawl down his back. He jumped around trying to get it out of his clothes and only after a few minutes of dancing did the thing fall out. It was a frog. He turned around to yell at Lissa, but found that she had already run away.
I can't believe she stuffed a frog down my shirt while I hugged her! Wait, I actually can believe it. Glad to know she's still Lissa.
Eventually, 5 days passed. Robin was able to clean up his relic of a room and catch up on his friends. Panne was still with Gaius, even if he was dead. Donny and Cordelia visited the castle from their home in the country so often, they practically lived there for a month at a time. Vaike became the new khan of Regna Ferox with Tharja as his wife, beating any challenger for the seat of khan. From time to time, Emmeryn would assist Regna Ferox and Ylisse with several peace treaties with other countries. Otherwise, she just lived together with her husband, watching over her children and grandchildren. Virion and Cherche were still together, even with his odd personality and Minerva. Lon'qu settled down with Olivia and raised an oddly normal Inigo with the Inigo from the future. Henry and Miriel were saddened by Laurent's suicide but still managed to stay happy-ish, eventually having their time's Laurent. Libra and Nowi's orphanage was extremely successful and found homes for tens if not hundreds of children. Ricken and Maribelle became one of the noblest families in Ylisse and were one of the most respected for their work towards the kingdom. Say'ri finally fixed up Chon'sin with Gregor and her brother's help. Eventually Yen'fay left for who knows where and who knows when. Anna was still earning money and occasionally donated it towards charitable causes. As for the rest of the children, now adults, they were still on their way to Ylisstol.
Now, let's see if I can get any of them to tell me about Tiki's disappearance.
As if on cue, a flustered Nowi popped up in front of Robin. It felt good to see that one person still looked as he remembered. After all, she was of the Manakete race. Over a thousand and fifty years had passed since her birth and she still looked like a child. It gave him a sense of normality, like 50 years hadn't really passed and he was still dreaming or something.
"Robin! Good news and bad news, which one do you wanna hear first?" She had a smile on her face, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. In fact, her smile looked more forced than genuine.
"Uh, the good news."
"Alright," Nowi took in a deep breath, "We found Tiki." Robin was absolutely stunned.
They found her?
But they've looked for 45 years, how could they just find her now?
This is suspicious, what's the bad news?
"A-Are you sure you found her? It's been 45 years since she left and I just only came back 5 days ago. Ah, never mind that, what's the bad news?" He started fiddling with his thumbs, a habit he noticed he had when he got anxious about something. Nowi's obviously fake smile disappeared. Her face, which was usually full of joy and happiness, now showed concern, pity, and what looked like anger.
"Robin, please don't be rash. Try to be calm when I tell you." He was taken aback by the suddenly grave tone her voice carried. This was unlike Nowi, the only time he had heard that tone was when she told him to come back for Tiki, the night before they faced Grima. "The current ruler of Plegia announced to the world that he was going to marry Tiki a few days ago, right before you reappeared. The wedding is set to happen next week."
A despicable feeling arose in Robin's chest, one that he had hoped he would never feel again. Pure anger. His hands that had aimlessly been fiddled just a few moments prior had formed fists. He clenched his teeth and hands so tight that he drew blood.
Breathe in and breathe out, Robin.
Calm down.
Robin drew a breath, exhaled, and drew another one. This ritual continued on for several minutes. The feeling of anger subsided and was replaced by a different one, sadness.
"Nowi, please tell me. Who is the man who has taken Tiki away from me?" Robin's voice was eerily quiet. It didn't carry the usual carefree tone, instead, Robin's voice sounded absolutely heartbroken.
Nowi stiffened. "It's Ricken's son, and not Brady. He got married to the princess of Plegia a few years ago, but she died recently of unknown causes. And now he's apparently going to marry Tiki–your wife–who doesn't know you're back."
"Is there anything else I should know about this man?" His voice had dropped down to barely a whisper.
"Yeah, there are a few more things. His name is Elric–and Plegia is currently is a ceasefire with Ylisse!" Nowi proceeded to run away as soon as she finished her report, which was a good thing, considering what Robin was about to do.
No one knows for sure, but scholars later speculated that Robin's newfound random bursts of anger was from his killing Grima. The darkness of the Fell Dragon must have infected Robin, giving him a slight bipolar disorder. What they do know for sure, however, was that this particular spasm resulted in the explosion of a sphere approximately 10 feet in diameter inside Castle Ylisse.
The tremor resounded throughout the castle, summoning the heroes of the war against Grima to the spot where Robin stood. When they arrived, Robin was standing on a small pillar of stone, the epicenter of the quake.
"Care to explain what happened here?" Chrom and the others just looked stunned. It baffled them that someone as calm as Robin would just create a random surge of Fire magic that blew up a part of Chrom's house.
"Why didn't you tell me that there was another war between Ylisse and Plegia? I could've helped you know. You don't have to shoulder everything on your own. I'm your tactician. It's always been that way." Robin paused before continuing. "Besides, don't you think that I'd be more than eager to fight Plegia again? Since that Elric person has Tiki."
Chrom looked as if the weight of the world had been taken off of his shoulders. He didn't look so tired anymore. Instead, he looked rather invigorated and hopeful.
"You're right Robin, and I'm sorry about that. I figured you'd need some time to yourself without worrying about fighting so soon after you just came back." Chrom smiled. For Robin, it just told him that Chrom was back to his old self. For the others, it was a ray of hope. They hadn't seen him smile since Sumia and Frederick died.
Vaike coughed, obviously having something to say. "Since we've got our tactician back, does that mean we can finally stop that ridiculous ceasefire and attack Plegia? I'm sure Robin can keep casualties to a minimum." Anyone could tell that he sounded way too excited to fight Plegia.
"Dear, you're the khan of Regna Ferox. It wouldn't do for you to fight and die during this war." Tharja sternly chided Vaike. She finally stopped threatening to curse and hex people, but of course, she still retained her habit of cursing and hexing. Tharja just didn't bother telling people that she would.
"Ha! The Vaike would never lose in a battle!"
Everyone just laughed at Vaike. Even now, he still referred to himself in third person.
"I agree with Vaike on this one. With Robin here, we can fight Plegia and win again. Their tactician is good, but nowhere as good as Robin. That son of mine needs to be taught a lesson anyways." Ricken interjected amidst the laughter. Over the years, he lost his childlike behavior and started to act more seriously. He also grew taller and looked more like a man than someone's little brother. "Elric will not be excused for starting a war with his own country via another."
Chrom chuckled. "Of course. But why don't we go to the council room and have a war council? Robin needs to adjust and prepare for Plegia's new landscape. It's been 50 years after all."
The rest of that day was dedicated to creating new strategies. With Miriel and the late Laurent's invention, horse-drawn carriages, traveling was much easier, especially since pegasi could also be used in place of the horses. The children arrived in Ylisstol that night and celebrated the return of their beloved tactician, especially Morgan, who missed her father immensely during the years. News of Robin's return spread throughout the countries of Ylisse and Regna Ferox, eventually reaching the ears of the rest of the world and Plegia.
"Robin…" Tiki whispered her husband's name whilst in her room in a Plegian castle. "You're finally back…"
A/N Part 2: Alright so I lied, I'm not done yet. I apologize for the description. Thanks to ZeroRei00, who so kindly alerted me to the fact that I typed F/Avatar instead of M/Avatar, I fixed it before anyone else could notice that horrid mistake. You remember how I said this would be 3 chapters? Well I think I've changed my mind. I realized, thanks to some PMs I received, the potential this could have and I've decided to expand on the plot that I had in mind originally. Mind you, I'm rather lazy, summer break is over in about a month so it's random-family-trip-time, and I have work. So Forever And Always will probably update about once a week or every 5-7 days. I have brain farts too often and quite frankly, Maplestory is freaking addicting. So thank you for reading and please drop a review. I typed it once before, but this is my first fic and I need all the help and criticism I can get. That and the fact reviews make me happy~ Ciao~